Also known as “DOGE,” Dogecoin is a digital open-source currency that is based on the Internet meme featuring a Shiba Inu. It’s an entertaining, enjoyable cryptocurrency with a greater allure as it is based on a meme of a dog.
In many ways, it is different from the usual proof-of-work protocol of Bitcoin. One of these differences is the use of Scrypt technology. The total supply of the altcoin is uncapped, which translates to there not being a limit to the amount of coins that can be mined. A participant can mine on Mac, Linux, or Windows.
It was released in December 2013, initially as a joke to make fun of the constant growing speculation everywhere about crypto at the time. Its creators, Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer, software engineers, promote the currency as a “fun and friendly internet currency” because of its origins. Another key participant in the growing success of the coin is the CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, who constantly mentions it or talks about it. He mainly does it on his Twitter account, which makes it more prevalent in a significant way. After posting on social media that this is his preferred coin, the currency became popular.
So far, it has been used to tip people producing or sharing content of quality. It is possible to tip Dogecoin to a group of people that uses cryptocurrency. There are websites called “faucet” where you could get some Dogecoin for free. This to interact with Dogecoin groups or communities.
It is possible to buy or sell it at any trade where digital currency is available. Also, to save it in a wallet for Dogecoin. Also, through communities in which it is accepted.
Released in July 2015, Stellar Lumens (XLM), in simple terms, is an open network that enables money to be moved and stored. The protocol’s main goal was to boost financial inclusion. Although the priorities changed, the goal became to help financial institutions connect by utilizing blockchain tech.
The network has its token called Lumens, and it functions as a bridge to make trading assets less expensive across borders. The point of all this is to challenge the current payment providers, who usually charge high fees for a service alike.
Does any of this ring a bell? If yes then it’s worth mentioning that the Ripple Labs protocol has initially been the base for Stellar Lumens (XLM). A hard fork is what created the blockchain. Eventually, the team in charge rewrote the core code to be compliant with the new target.
In 2013 after leaving Ripple because of a disagreement about the company’s future direction, Jed McCaleb decided to found Stellar with Joyce Kim. In 2020 McCaleb explained the rationale behind Stellar. He stated that the complete original design has different forms of value where fiat currencies run parallel with each other and crypto-assets. That was the critical point to making this project mainstream.
McCaleb had made it clear that he wanted to ensure that Stellar Lumens (XLM) could provide people with a new way of moving their fiat into cryptocurrencies. The goal is to remove the friction users experience when they send money to other parts of the world.
The current CTO of Stellar Lumens (XLM) is McCaleb. He also serves as co-founder of the Stellar Development Foundation. The foundation aims to improve the world’s economic potential by making markets more accessible, money more fluid, and empowering people.
First, fees are a sticking point for many users around the world. Although, a high cost while making a payment cross-border isn’t just a problem with fiat-based payment systems. Usually, Fees for transactions tend to go sky-high on blockchains such as Ethereum and Bitcoin because of congestion.
Stellar Lumens (XLM) has a unique transaction cost of only 0.00001 XLM. Considering that one unit of the token costs only a few cents, users can keep more money. Some projects have secured partnerships with fintech firms and big tech companies.
A few days ago, IBM and Stellar partnered up and launched World Wire. The project enabled big financial institutions to request transactions to the Stellar network and utilize bridge goods like stablecoins. While other blockchains possess community funds, Stellar allows its users to vote on the support’s direction.
In 2015, when the network launched, Stellar issued a total of 100 billion XLM, but things have changed since then. Currently, the total supply of XLM stands for over 50 billion, and 20.7 billion are in circulation.
The Stellar network uses the Stellar Consensus Protocol to secure the project. The protocol claims to have four main properties: low latency, decentralized control, flexible trust, and asymptotic security.
Through this protocol, everybody can join the process of achieving consensus, and more than one entity can end up with most of the deciding power. Transactions are confirmed cheap and fast; all it takes is just a few seconds. Also, safeguards are set in place if attackers try to join the network.
TRON (TRX) is an operating system based on blockchain technology and its primary goal is to ensure this tech is appropriate for daily use. The project claims to be able to handle 2,000 transactions per second, while with Ethereum it is only up to 25, and with Bitcoin only six.
The best way to describe TRON (TRX) is as a decentralized platform with a goal to share content and provide entertainment. Its major acquisition in 2018 was by BitTorrent, the file-sharing service.
In general, the project divided its main objectives into six different phases. The range goes from file sharing to the creation of content through rewards. At the same time, it enables creators of content to launch new tokens and encourages them to decentralize the gaming industry. Moreover, TRON is one of the most sought-after blockchain projects for DApps building.
Justin Sun is the founder of TRON, who is currently also the CEO. He finished his education at Peking University and the University of Pennsylvania. Forbes Asia recognized him as one of the main features in its 30 Under 30 series for entrepreneurs.
Sun has been associated in the past with the Ripple project; he worked as a chief representative in the Greater China zone.
It has positioned itself as a space for content creators to connect more instantly with their audience. By removing centralized platforms, creators expected to lose as much commission as they usually would to intermediaries. It won’t matter if they are app stores, streaming services, or music sites.
This could also mean an improvement for consumers since the content would be less expensive than usual. Considering that the sector for entertainment keeps growing on digitized grounds, TRON could have a head start. TRON (TRX) is already ahead of its time while applying blockchain tech to the entertainment industry.
The project also claims to have an experienced and talented team in charge of new developments. TRON has members all over the globe, some coming from major firms such as Ripple Labs.
The project offers a different point by providing a roadmap that shows its plans for the following years. In contrast, some other projects are pretty shady about their development intentions.
The project has a supply of more than 100 billion coins, most of which are already in circulation since the beginning of December. In 2017, 15.75 billion TRX went to private investors at a token sale. Additionally, 34 billion went to the Tron Foundation, and ten more billion went to one of Justin Sun’s companies.
In the end, 45% of the supply allocated to the project itself and the founder, while 55% went to investors. Experts argue that this ratio is much higher than that seen before with other projects.
TRON utilizes a mechanism of consensus called delegated proof-of-stake. The owners can freeze their crypto to get Tron Power. They can vote for “super representatives” who work as producers of blocks by doing so.
Those producers acquire TRX as rewards for verifying the transactions, which are distributed between the voters. As TRON sees it, blockchain can achieve better throughput levels.
Helium is a network for IoT (Internet of Things) devices powered by decentralized blockchain technology. It was officially launched back in July 2019. The network enables devices with low-powered wireless to send and receive data across its nodes and network in general. The nodes, also known as hotspots, are a mix of a blockchain mining device and a wireless gateway. The network is also known for rewarding the users that operate the nodes with HNT, Helium’s token.
The three founders who started the company back in 2013 are Shawn Fanning, Amir Haleem, and Sean Carey. Haleem’s active background is in eSports as well as the development of games. On the other hand, Fanning, is famous for the story of Napster, a music sharing service Napster was one of the first peer-to-peer primary internet services at the end of the ’90s. Meanwhile, Sean Carey had a variety of roles before Helium. Carey worked in the firm “Where”, which specialized in advertising optimization, that Paypal later acquired.
Now, the team in charge of Helium, formed by what the company calls experienced members, is very optimistic. They have specialized people in hardware and radio, manufacturing, distribution systems, and blockchain tech.
The main goal of Helium is to increase the capabilities in the communication of wireless IoT devices exponentially. Back in 2013, the whole infrastructure related to the Internet of Things was still at a very early stage. Developers, determined to expand their offerings by adding decentralization. That is the main reason why official literature refers to it as “The People’s Network”.
The target audience is the users interested in the IoT as well as owners of devices. Considering that there are financial incentives, the expected outcome of this expansion is on a big scale.
What the users of the network are purchasing or building are Hotspots, a mix of a miner and a wireless gateway. Each of those hotspots supplies coverage within a specific range. At the same time, the same hotspot mines HNT, Helium’s token.
The whole network works on proof-of-coverage, which is a new algorithm of consensus. The algorithm is based on a protocol that enables nodes to reach consensus when the quality of the connection is highly variable.
When Helium launched the token, the supply was zero. Back in October 2020, there were 48,712,218 Helium tokens in circulation. Helium explained that the owners of the nodes would receive tokens for helping build the network. Later on, data transfer will be more advantageous, although the token distribution will last for about 20 years.
Helium uses a mechanism of consensus called PoC (proof-of-coverage) for which users get rewards. Main goal of PoC is specifically node communication.
From October 2020, Helium token is available in big exchanges.
The ever-expanding world of crypto never ceases to amaze us, and it seems as though everyone wants to be a part of this new realm. Subsequently, blockchain technology piqued the interest of many major sectors, gaming included.
Yes, the gaming industry is one of the early birds that adopted this cutting-edge technology—an exciting clash of worlds, gaming, and blockchain. And believe it or not, people that have a genuine interest in blockchain are most likely game heads.
The rising demand for NFTs in the gaming industry only amplifies this riveting crossover. In this day and age, you can trade many rare and trending NFTs within games. So, we couldn’t help but wonder what this means for the crypto industry and what is the future of blockchain gaming? For more crypto news, read our Crypto Digest blog.
Blockchain is considered one of the key players of the financial technologies of the future, and it sees great potential as a trustworthy ledger concept.
Before we begin, we have to address the blockchain gaming concept. It is a system based on cryptography that links blocks of data together in sequential order. Because every change can set a “chain” reaction and affect the entire chain, the data units on the blockchain are immutable and unique.
The main distinction between regular games and blockchain games is the fact that each digital asset inside the game is unique. This is where non-fungible tokens, or NFTs for short, come into play. They are unique data units kept on the blockchain for these digital assets. This industry is called blockchain gaming.
Play to earn is one of the central aspects of these games because the gamer earns unique NFTs or any other kind of cryptocurrency by playing the game. Merit-based advancements give you digital tokens that the player can convert into actual money. Or you can keep playing. It’s up to you.
And now for the exciting part. Since every NFT is one-of-a-kind, blockchain has made the concept of digital asset ownership possible. If an asset is stored on the blockchain in the form of an NFT, the owner can claim his rights to sell or keep the asset. Let’s say artwork, even though this system works much better for the gaming industry.
Blockchain gives its users full control over the digital asset they earn by playing these games. For example, if the players spend real money on digital assets in traditional games, they might lose access to them if the server crashes. The developer has the rights.
In the case of blockchain games, both the assets and the money remain in your total ownership, whatever happens. These assets can be traded with other fellow players, sold for real money, and possibly used across different game universes. The possibilities are endless, really.
We’ve come to the part where we list the most important terms of these games. Each player needs to know this, so pay attention.
According to sources, the global market capitalization of NFTs revolves around $2.5 billion as of the beginning of 2021. This is quite a number when we compare it to the previous year and a market cap of $13.5 million. More and more gaming companies are taking part in the blockchain gaming trend now that NFTs are going strong. This only underlines future potential.
Finally, we can conclude that blockchain gaming might disrupt the traditional gaming industry after observing the ongoing trends. Generally, blockchain gaming sees a lot of future potential, as all numbers suggest. A current prediction states that there are around 1 billion online gamers out there, and still rising. This can only increase the significance of this trend if more new players opt for blockchain.
Suppose we know all of this information and that blockchain keeps track of in-game items like experience points, weapons, and skins, making them unhackable. In that case, we can deduct that the gaming industry, in collaboration with crypto, might be a fertile ground for future growth. Heck, it might even be the dynamic duo of the inevitable crypto future!
It’s been over two years since Facebook’s crypto was announced; this was made public back in 2019. Usually, the goal of new cryptocurrencies is to get into the stablecoin market, so why is Libra not here yet?
Two years ago, Nassim Eddequiouaq and Riyaz Faizullabhoy left the company Anchorage to start working on Facebook’s crypto wallet. Facebook’s crypto, also known as Libra, was announced for the first time back in June 2019. In the crypto space, that counts as ages. First, it was pitched as a global currency without borders. The plan for the token was to be backed by the Libra Reserve, which is a compilation of assets with low volatility. Such assets were supposed to be Government securities and bank deposits, to name a couple.
Only in the first few months, the Libra Association lost many of its founding members. During that first wave, important companies such as MasterCard, Stripe, Paypal, and eBay were among the deserters. Then, in an attempt to get a new fresh start, Facebook’s crypto changed its name to Diem, and the wallet app created to hold it was renamed Novi. However, the name wasn’t the only thing that changed; its goals and ambitions were also downgraded. The new concept set the coin as a simple stablecoin pegged to the US dollar. That is far from being the borderless currency promised at the beginning. The market is full of stablecoins accessible at more serious companies such as Paxos, Binance, and Circle.
Now, two years after it was first announced, it’s worth asking: is there anyone who wants to acquire crypto from Facebook? Facebook’s principal founder, Mark Zuckerberg has been involved in legal issues regarding users’ privacy and data protection on his social network in the past couple of years.
Zuckerberg has been called to court several times to lend testimony about the allegations against him and the platform for which he’s responsible. The irony here is that Facebook’s crypto is not only his thing; it’s a whole project backed up by a group of companies based in Switzerland. Part of the plan is to decentralize the coin progressively. The biggest problem they’re trying to solve right now is that the project was first made public by Facebook. Also, Zuckerberg, who is an executive of Facebook, has become the face of it. Therefore fortunately or unfortunately, if the project will succeed, it will be determined by Facebook’s future reputation status. .
Although it seems like Zuckerberg has already moved onto his next project, Metaverse, there’s hope for Facebook’s crypto. The most significant advantage that the project owns is the 2.9 billion users the network has. Whatever stablecoin the company decides to embrace, a substantial number of users will give it a try. There’s still hope for the cryptocurrency, but if it’ll be a long-term sustainable project, it remains to be seen.
In cryptocurrency culture, influencers have always been prominent, and they are more so these days. The first time Elon Musk mentioned the original meme cryptocurrency Dogecoin, it triggered a number of immediate reactions by influencers across all social media platforms. There is an opinion that investing in meme coins is imprudent, an alternative opinion is that it is a cheap bet with massive potential. Both opinions are valid, although interest in meme coins and tokens skyrocketed in recent months.
As a rule, a meme coin doesn’t have inherent value and utility. It is obvious from the name that these cryptocurrencies revolve around Internet memes. The first meme coin, Dogecoin, is themed around a popular Doge meme, an image of a Shibu Inu dog. This coin runs on its own blockchain, which sets it apart from other meme tokens that run on an existing blockchain. The most widespread meme tokens are Shibu Inu that is built on Ethereum, and SafeMoon, built atop Binance Smart Chain. However, there are many more.
It has been eight years since the launch of Dogecoin; it has become much more accessible to create a cryptocurrency. Meme coins and tokens can be launched easily and become popular due to their connection with influencers. For instance, in May this year, Mark Zuckerberg published an image of his pet goats with the comment “My goats: Max and Bitcoin.” After a short period of time, a meme token named Aqua Goat grew in value by 300%; it happened within a couple of hours since the post was published.
Three of the most widely spread and used meme coins and tokes are Dogecoin, Shibu Inu, and Safemoon. Here is a quick overview of each of them.
The inventors of Dogecoin are Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus. It started as a joke, but it has become a weighty proposition since Elon Musk began promulgating it in 2019. The coin saw its peak in January 2021, with a market cap of $9 billion. At the moment, Musk is working with the coin’s developers to enhance the platform; he facilitates it as a means of paying for services and goods and works to decrease its carbon footprint.
This coin made its appearance in April 2021. It started off as an experiment but soon increased in value. The total supply of Shibu Inu Coin is one quadrillion, and it yields its investors a possibility to hold billions of tokens. However, it needs to climb around 12 million percent to hit the target of $1.
The creators of this token sook to enhance Dogecoin’s tokenomic model. Unlike Bitcoin, with a limited supply of coins, there is a limitless supply of Dogecoin, making it an inflationary tokenomic model. To improve this, SAfeMoon uses a deflationary tokenomic model. It implies that 5% is burned for every transaction, and another 5% is allocated to the existing token holders. From that follows that the total supply of coins is meant to decrease constantly, which ensures safe gains. Its market cap is currently $2 billion.
The bottom line is that the final success of meme coins and tokens depends on the weight of their communities.
The main goal of a Crypto Enforcement Division is to reinforce the ability of the Department of Justice to fight crimes related to crypto. On October 6th, the DOJ made the announcement about the new unit. The unit will only focus on financial crime strictly involving crypto.
The US Deputy Attorney General made the statement at the beginning of October at the Aspen Cyber Summit. Lisa Monaco said that the team would reinforce the DOJ’s ability to hinder financial markets that permit the flourishing of cybercriminals.
It was also stated that the Department of Justice would set an initiative in motion to center on civil cyber fraud. On the same day, she announced that they were launching the national team of crypto enforcement. They have already started fighting the misuse of platforms dedicated to crypto, and they have shown excellent results. It was also stated that the Crypto Enforcement Division wouldn’t hesitate to hold the platforms that help criminals to launder money in any way accountable. Another point they made clear: they’ll go after platforms assisting criminals to hide criminal proceeds. Crypto has become a crowded space, and new threats appear every day.
At the same summit, Monaco also stated that the team would include as many experts on cybersecurity as experts on anti-money laundering. That particular mix of expertise is made to ensure the protection of consumers for online related crime to finances.
Since crypto exchanges are set to become the banks of the future, there’s a need to make sure that users can trust these platforms when using their services. Companies that receive federal funds will also be pursued if they don’t follow the recommended cybersecurity standards .
The US Department of Justice is chasing cybercriminals, particularly those dealing with cryptocurrency. The latest success story is the case of Larry Harmon, a man from Ohio who got convicted. He was running a Bitcoin mixer for years. Harmon was in charge of a tool that helped “blurring” the source of Bitcoin funds. He pleaded guilty to the charges of money laundering through the service he was in charge of. However, law enforcement wasn’t able to trace them.
We’re currently experiencing new challenges when it comes to the crypto space, especially when we talk about cybersecurity and its regulations. Although there are still many aspects of it to be defined, one thing is for sure; when dealing with crypto, just like when dealing with fiat money, you should always be careful; scams are gradually becoming an everyday reality even in the virtual space.
Litecoin, also known as LTC, is a crypto altcoin explicitly designed to make payments in a secure, fast, and low-cost way. The token was created by taking advantage of the qualities of blockchain technology. The project is based on the BTC protocol, although it is different regarding the algorithm and the times of block transactions, among other factors. LTC transaction fees are low, and its block time is only 2.5 min.
On October 13, 2011, the network went live, and an open-source client launched it. Since the day it went live, it exploded due to its high acceptance among different merchants. This token has been in the top ten positions capitalization-wise in the markets for most of the time since its creation.
A former employee of Google, Charlie Lee, is responsible for the Litecoin project. The initial idea was to create a “lite version of BTC,” therefore the mentioned similarities between the two coins. Charlie Lee, aka “Chocobo”, has been a BTC miner since the early beginnings of the cryptocurrency. Lee, the former director of engineering at Coinbase, was also an engineer for Google. He was working for other companies until 2017, when he decided to work on other projects. He’s an advocate and supporter of the crypto industry and the director of the Foundation of Litecoin. It’s an organization that helps keep developing LTC and other projects alike.
When it comes to cryptocurrencies, Litecoin is the second most wanted, only after Bitcoin. It’s not hard to understand that its success is due to its utility benefits and simplicity. As of this year, LTC has been one of the most popular cryptocurrencies. It is accepted broadly; over 2,000 stores and merchants around the world welcome LTC. Litecoin transactions are typically confirmed within minutes, plus the fees are meager. These are all solid reasons it’s an appealing option in developing countries, where the transaction fee is a factor to consider when choosing which crypto to support.
Like most PoW crypto, the circulation of LTC grows as they mine blocks. On January 21, the amount of LTC already mined was up to 66,245 million, out of a total of 84 million. It was recently estimated that it might be until 2142 when Litecoin gets total dilution.
LTC uses the PoW algorithm to make sure that transactions are confirmed without mistakes and with incredible speed. The LTC mining network avoids double-spends and other attacks while still ensuring the network has 100% uptime.
As the number of dating apps skyrocketed in the last few years, so did the crypto scams linked to them. Nowadays, dating has become as easy as picking up the phone and clicking a few times here and there. Getting a date is not a hustle as it used to be; it’s never been easier than it is today. Long gone are the days where it was needed to go up and start talking to a random person to score a date. Now, even the most isolated loner knows how to use a phone. Anyone can download one of the thousands of dating apps, such as Tinder, and start swiping left and right. This is convenient for many users out there interested in crypto as well. Although buyers are careful, not all that glitters is gold.
In the first quarter of 2021, the worth of crypto scams went up to reach $1.2 billion, according to a report from a famous firm specialized in crypto security that studied the activity of scammers, thieves, and fraudsters. We can all recognize the tell-tale signs, the “giveaways” in social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Identifying fake accounts can be relatively a piece of cake. Users pretending to be Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg are easily spotted by the username being misspelled and the account not having more than a few followers. And one of the most significant red flags to notice is the following: why would someone like Elon Musk give away money out of the blue? Although these signs might be pretty easy to spot, unfortunately, it seems that crypto scammers have upped their game.
According to recent info shared on Public Service Announcements of Reddit, a significant number of scammers moved their “business” to Tinder. The general MO of the scammers is to play the long game patiently. They use their charms to lure potential victims into a fake sense of security. Once they feel their target trusts them, they “conveniently” offer them an insider tip on an exchange, typically of some new crypto. This generous tip is the bait the scammers wish for the victim to bite.
It’s believed that only last month $60,000 was stolen by these exchanges. It’s evident that common sense or critical thinking is not used to avoid crypto scams. However, there are a few tips that could be of help. After deeper investigation, it was noticed that many Tinder users that were targeted reported being sent to buy a token called PCT at an exchange under the name “add-ex.io.” Based on the experiences of those Tinder users, the company RedMarlin put together a list of tips to avoid crypto scams.
Among the main ones are:
In this fast-changing world we live in, it is critical to avoid getting tricked. Not only to steer clear from the unpleasant experience of feeling double-crossed but also to avoid a potential strong hit to your finances. When it comes to love, crypto, and dating apps, it’s better to keep your eyes wide open. Although keeping an open mind is essential, dating apps might not be for everyone in the first place. Many people get scammed either way There are many ways you can get scammed, but this new method is blooming, and everyone using dating apps should be aware of it.
The prominent social media pioneer, Facebook, is investing a significant amount of $50 million in creating the Facebook Metaverse. But let’s start at the beginning; what exactly is a Metaverse? “Metaverse” is the word used to describe an online space within the digital environments. A space with social media, virtual reality, and online games. It’s a mix of “meta,” which means “after” or “beyond” and the word “universe”. The Facebook Metaverse developers are trying to get ahead of the critics by making conscious investments and having meaningful partnerships. The budget planned for the next couple of years is $50 million. The budget will be directed towards initiatives related to the project and collaborations. The Facebook Metaverse goal is to create a space for work, social interactions, and games, among other things.
CEO of Facebook, declared that the social network pioneer was on the way to transforming into a metaverse firm. Now, the company is actively investing money into that statement. For instance, the team revealed plans to invest 50 million over the following two years to give life to the Facebook Metaverse.
The concept of the metaverse is already known in the crypto industry. Decentralized projects try to create future worlds and experiences online out of the control and supervision of centralized entities. Facebook is an excellent example of that. In simple terms, the Facebook metaverse will be about shared virtual spaces where users can interact together and coexist.
Developers declared that by opening the door to gaming and social experiences, the metaverse has excellent potential to improve the way we work. Also, they believe that it will create new economic opportunities for users all over the globe. Therefore, it will be somehow similar to the way decentralized autonomous organizations operate. DAOs are built so that their goal is to disrupt the traditional model of companies as we know it.
This is a very ambitious and revolutionary project. That’s why the thought does not convince some metaverse developers of Facebook being the one leading its development. There’s a lot of criticism of its record regarding the user’s privacy, and it’s one of the primary sources of misinformation. The company said in previous days that the Facebook metaverse would be built responsibly. They plan to work with expert advisors in the government and industry. For instance, the goal is to work through potential issues and new opportunities in the Facebook metaverse.
Involving communities of civil and human rights has been a must in this project since the very beginning. Most importantly, there’s a need to guarantee that these technologies will be built in a way that is empowering and inclusive.